Decadent Publishing: Something Blue

by LaVerne Thompson writing as Ursula Sinclair

This is a very special time of the year filled with many different traditions. Most of which celebrate family and friends. Well in my house we’ve got a few Christmas traditions and I’d like to share some of our favorites with you.

This one was passed from my mother to me and from me to my girls. On Christmas Eve, after a nice hot shower, my kids find brand new Christmas PJs on their beds. Of course, over the years the types of PJs have changed from Onesie to pants and tops from Aerie or Pink. But it’s still a lot of fun for them to find. Afterwards we’d go downstairs and sit by the Christmas tree. If it’s cold out, we’ll have the fireplace going and my girls will sit on either side of me while I read ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas. When they were little I read it to them, when they were able to read they’d take turns reading to me, now that they’re teens they’re back to having me read it to them. Funny how we’ve come full circle.

But one of our favorite traditions is our Christmas journal. When my oldest was five her teacher gave all the students a small journal. She told them about her family holiday tradition, which we’ve adopted. This is a special journal that’s kept with the Christmas things, and only taken out with the decorations and placed under the tree. We forget about it until Christmas morning. After all the presents are opened it’s the last thing under the tree.

I sit down, open up the journal, and write about the things my girls got for Christmas. It’s strange when you read about some of these things years later, how much it tells you about your children and yourself. I list the big family gifts too, but I also write about the high points of the past year, both personal to our family or larger world events that affect us all. Then we all take turns during the day reading about our Christmas’ past. It paints a clear picture of our lives, how far we’ve come, and how far we still have to go.

My daughters a few years ago began another version of this. Instead of keeping a journal of the years past they write a future note to themselves and pack it away. They write about their hopes, fears, expectations for the coming year, and then they take it out and read it the following Christmas. Usually they smile or laugh while reading these notes to themselves. I love holiday traditions.Since it's so close to Christmas, I will give away a pdf download of White Wedding to a randomly picked commenter. Please leave your email in your comment so I can contact you!